Anomalisa – Blu-Ray Movie Review

Synopsis

Michael Stone, author, travels to Cincinnati to speak at a customer service conference. Once he is separated from his mundane life, a chance encounter helps him realize what he’s been missing. Love, laughter and loneliness align in this stop-motion feature starring the voices of David Thewlis and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Specifications

Paramount Pictures
2015, Color, Rated R, 1 hour 30 min.
DD TrueHD 5.1, 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring the voices of : David Thewlis and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Directed by: Charlie Kaufman

Rating

Entertainment:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Violence: No
Sex: Yes
Language: Yes

Commentary

I realize that the hip, uber crowd loved this film about a man having a middle aged crisis, but I found it to be too slow and had nothing new to say about the subject. The animation is wonderful and I appreciate the time they put into making it, but the story was dull and plodding. If you expected the ending to be a big revelation…you’d be disappointed. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Stone has sex with Lisa. That scene is given a whole story in the extras section. Yes, the puppets are “anatomically correct”, but that scene was very weird and left me feeling uncomfortable.

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Was it a metaphor for mans animalistic urges? Or was it an attempt to show that we can get out of our middle age rut if we find the “right“ person? I don’t know, but claymation is a bit creepy and claymation sex is just creepier. Otherwise, our hero eventually goes home to the wife and kid, but it’s left to the viewer to decide if anything really gets resolved in Stones depressing life. Could this movie have been made with real actors? Sure, but then it would have really been boring.

Technical

Picture quality is good with some amazing detail found on the “skin” and clothing of the puppets. Colors are solid and vibrant for the most part. The sound is effective and a clip in the extras section explains how they used sounds from the characters environment to enhance the visuals.

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The puppets were made from 3D printers and had interchangeable faces to help the animators with changing the expressions of the puppets. Too bad that all of this technical whizz-bang didn’t make the storyline any more interesting.

Extras

Some featurettes: None of Them are You: Crafting Anomalisa, Intimacy in Miniature and the Sound of Unease. A DVD is included as well.

Jim Milton

Jim Milton has been interested in high fidelity since his college years in the late 70's. It was there that he first became interested in classical music. He has been part of choral music, both in opera and oratorio and is an avid collector of classical music from the Baroque through the Romantic periods. He enjoys an occasional night at Boston Symphony Hall or attending an organ concert at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, ME. Currently he is the director of Nuclear Medicine at the North Shore Medical Center, located just outside of Boston. He also serves as an adjunct professor for Salem State University where he teaches a course in nuclear instrumentation. During his leisure time, he enjoys listening to his music collection and an occasional movie with his wife of 30+ years. Living on the longest stretch of sandy beach north of Boston offers him plenty of opportunities to take a relaxing stroll or soak up some sun. "Remember, acquiring good A/V gear takes lots of time...but doesn't necessarily take lots of money."